⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word [the message, the basis] of faith which we preach—^(A)

¹⁰ if you listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

¹¹ “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it ^[a]out of reach. ¹² It is not [a secret hidden] in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.

²⁶ And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands and territories. ²⁷ This was so that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grasp for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ For in Him we live and move and exist [that is, in Him we actually have our being], as even some of ^[a]your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’